Less Waste: Keeping the World Neat with Neat Coffee

How many times can one hear me babble on about the need to reduce waste? Not endless, I presume. But hear my out, just one more time. I want to invite you to join me in keeping the world neat, but not quite in the same way I have before.

Past blog posts were all about ways you could reduce waste at home. Mostly, how to reduce plastic consumption, and alternatives to single-use plastics. However, I get that most people feel as if that doesn’t make much of a difference. What impact can one person’s actions actually have? While I am a non-believer in the word negligible, I can see why some people will feel as if removing plastic completely out of their lives will be a lot of work, for “very little outcome”. We define an action’s worth based on the results. The trouble is that the results are not very easily seen. Who will actually see how keeping one plastic ring that holds soda cans together out of the ocean can prolong a turtle’s life? The effects of our actions may not be visible, but it does not mean they don’t exist. But since results are better convincers for most about the need for action…

I want to invite you to participate in something a bit different, but equally neat. I invite all readers, friends, and families to join me this Sunday for a trash pick up! Doesn’t sound fun? There will be free coffee from my friends at Neat Coffee and free pastries from my friends at Rye Goods. It will be at Newport Aquatic Center, and there will be kayaks so that participants can go out into the water and look for floating trash. For those who prefer to stick to their own two feet, there will be terrain to cover. Consider it the last hurrah for Plastic Free July!

Mike and I have participated in the monthly trash clean up events organized by Ally from Neat Coffee for the past three months. It’s something we do to continue living our truth. We have been to a different park each time, and each time, we learn something new.

We learn that passerbys are impressed, as well as shocked, when they see us picking up trash.

We get thanked by strangers for our work, which shows us that they acknowledge there is work that needs to be done.

We always find a ton of trash, which also teaches us that there is work to be done, in terms of educating people about the impact they are making on the environment.

There is trash that is purposefully left behind. For example, beer bottles hung up on tree branches, out of reach, which required someone to climb up the tree, and hang them upside down on branches that would support the bottles’ weight.

We learn that we are not the only ones. One of my favorite memories was when we came across another person holding a bag and walking around with one of those extended claws. He saw us and commented, “Someone else is awake.” Yes, we all need to wake up. It seems he picks up trash on the regular too.

We learned that some people feel like other people’s trash is not their responsibility. A couple came across us picking up trash on one occasion, and the man commented, “If you’re looking for trash, there’s always a lot down where the homeless people stay. Just stay on the path to the right and you will reach it. I always see trash there.”

Lastly, we learned that seeing the results is a way bigger motivator than not seeing the results. Seeing a group of people come together for a cause is a bigger inspiration than doing something yourself. And seeing how much trash we collect from a two hour stroll is a better convincer at how much still has yet to be done.

So will you take two hours out of your Sunday, and let the world teach you something too? Together, we can keep-it-neat!

Please RSVPhere so that they have enough kayaks, coffee, and pastries.

About me

Hi everyone! My name is Samm. I am a debtist – a dentist who graduated with a lot of student debt. After four years of undergrad and four years of dental school, I ended up with a debt of over $550k, which I then had to start paying back. This led me to a series of life changes and discoveries about myself in my late twenties that shaped my lifestyle into what it is today. Saving money required us to be more frugal, and being more frugal opened up the doors to finding alternative ways to find happiness in things that don’t require consumerism. I now embrace a simple life. I live in OC with my husband, although we prefer to be traveling, and do so when we can. We focus more on experiences rather than material things. Being selective when it comes to purchasing consumer goods, we spend most of our money and time acquiring new skills, picking up new hobbies, learning about new cultures, and exploring the globe. I’ve become more intentional with my life decisions, and am currently working towards buying my freedom from my massive loan, but not at the expense of giving up my life in exchange for grueling work hours. Open to questioning society’s standards of success, I am finding ways to reach my life goals by refusing some things that we take for granted as the norm. Balance is key, and this is my journey towards financial freedom, in the process of discovering what life is really about.

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